{"id":23418,"date":"2023-02-18T10:56:58","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T15:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23418"},"modified":"2023-02-18T11:20:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T16:20:22","slug":"episode-745-car-story-3-53-meteor-better-slow-down-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23418","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 745 CAR STORY 3: 53 METEOR “BETTER SLOW DOWN EARLY”"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 745    CAR STORY 3: 53 METEOR  “BETTER SLOW DOWN EARLY\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Ontario<\/div>\n

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Highway 400 in 1960\u2026not much traffic heading for North Bay\u2026.\u201dMarjorie, better slow down<\/div>\n
you are getting close to that northbound car.\u201d  \u201cWhy?\u201d (which is the point of this story)<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
\"Western<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. 18, 2023<\/div>\n

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I should not tell this story as it will only invite criticism.   When we bought the 53 Meteor in 1956 we<\/div>\n
had no idea that cars required maintenance.   Not just oil and gasoline.   We had very limited resources<\/div>\n
most of which depended on mom.  Eric, dad and I were unlikely to put money into maintenance of<\/div>\n
the car.  And mom had never heard of a Master Cylinder.  Nor had we really.<\/div>\n

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So here\u2019s the story.<\/div>\n

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Marjorie was driving me north on the newish 400 highway on one of our trips to North Bay\u2026.about 220 miles<\/div>\n
north of Toronto.  Why was Marjorie driving?  Because she was a good driver and had her licence before I got<\/div>\n
mine.  A point which she reminded me about occasionally.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So we were zipping along at the speed limit, perhaps 70 or 80 or 90 km per hour.  The Meteor was on the<\/div>\n
open highway and seemed to be enjoying itself.  Burning off any sludge in the engine.  Largely empty highway.<\/div>\n

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But there was another car that we were overtaking.<\/div>\n

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\u201cBetter slow down, Marjorie.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo need, that car is a long way in front of us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI would slow down all the same.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen I get close.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cClose now I would say\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be silly\u2026gently apply the brakes when we get close.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cClose to me\u2026.I would slow down\u2026.ease foot off the accelerator now.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo need yet\u2026maybe we\u2019ll pass him.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cApply the brake.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOK\u2026YIKE\u2026BRAKE NOT WORKING\u201d<\/div>\n

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Not sure if the crisis was all my fault.  I assumed Marjorie knew that brake cylinder was leaking.<\/div>\n

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\u201cBrakes don\u2019t work right away.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNeed to pump up the maseter cylinder\u2026.hit brake pedal gently a couple of times.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me that?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cForgot\u2026did tell you to apply brakes early.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, we could get into an accident.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot if you baby the brakes.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo body \u2018babys brakes\u2019, Alan.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe do.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCosts money to replace the master cylinder.  We don\u2019t have money for repairs if they<\/div>\n
can be avoided.<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, the 53 Meteor should not be on the road.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So I took over the drive.  Took about four hours to reach North Bay and then<\/div>\n
return.  Braking?  All that was required was a bit of pumping on the brake pedal.<\/div>\n
As I remember we got the leaking cylinder repaired even though not entirely necessary<\/div>\n
as long we slowed down in lots of time.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I probably should not tell this story.  In normal city traffic it was easy to slow down with<\/div>\n
a little pumping.   A lot harder on the open highway.   Today\u2026February 18, 2023, \u2026Marjorie<\/div>\n
put her car in for route maintenance as she does regularly.  The cost will be around<\/div>\n
$1,000 as tires are worn down.  Back when we got the 53 Meteor we never thought <\/div>\n
about maintenance.   Never had  trouble with our brakes since that incident because<\/div>\n
we can now afford to maintain vehicles.  Maintenance back in 1950 depended on mothers<\/div>\n
speedy stitching of dresses for Eaton\u2019s catalogue where she was instructed to \u201cmake the<\/div>\n
front look good\u2026.the back of the dress doe not matter\u2026speed it up.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n

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P.S.  It was a very sad day when we had to send that 53 Meteor to the scrap yard.<\/div>\n
Almost as bad as when we had to put grandma\u2019s Scotch Terrier down.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There is one more car story to come.  Short story.  But the story revolves around<\/div>\n
Dad’s use of choice language one summer day when I wanted the family to see<\/div>\n
a real mining anomaly in the dense bush east of Kinmount , Ontario.  Dad really<\/div>\n
cut loose and I am not sure it is safe to quote him that day.<\/div>\n

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\"Ontario<\/div>\n

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\u201cIF IWERE YOU MARJORIE,  I WOULD SLOW DOWN\u2026GETTING CLOSE TO THAT CAR AHEAD\u2026.AVOID<\/div>\n
THE BRAKE\u2026EASE OFF ON THE ACCELERATOR\u2026.REDUCES WEAR AND TEAR ON THE BRAKES.\u201d<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 745    CAR STORY 3: 53 METEOR  “BETTER SLOW DOWN EARLY\u201d Highway 400 in 1960\u2026not much traffic heading for North Bay\u2026.\u201dMarjorie, better slow down you are getting close to that northbound car.\u201d  \u201cWhy?\u201d (which is the point of this story) alan skeoch Feb. 18, 2023 I should not tell this story as it will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}